A tanker carrying Russian naphtha for Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA and at least four supertankers due to pick up crude cargoes in Venezuela have made u-turns after the U.S. seized a vessel carrying Venezuelan crude, ship monitoring data showed on Monday.
The U.S. Coast Guard last week intercepted and seized a very large crude carrier (VLCC) carrying some 1.85 million barrels of Venezuelan heavy oil sold by PDVSA, a sign of increasing friction between Venezuela and the U.S., which has ramped up pressure on President Nicolas Maduro.
The seizure left more than 11 million barrels stuck onboard other vessels in Venezuelan waters and has prompted some tanker owners to order u-turns to avoid problems, with an armada of U.S. ships patrolling the Caribbean Sea.
Benin-flagged tanker Boltaris, which was carrying some 300,000 barrels of Russian naphtha bound for Venezuela, made a u-turn late last week and is now heading for Europe without having discharged, according to LSEG vessel monitoring data.
At least four VLCCs that were in PDVSA’s schedules to load crude at Venezuelan ports in the coming weeks have also made u-turns in recent days, monitoring service TankerTrackers.com said.
The U.S. pressure has almost paralyzed Venezuela’s oil exports since last week, with only tankers chartered by Chevron setting sail carrying Venezuelan crude to the U.S. under an authorization previously granted by Washington, the data showed.
PDVSA said on Monday it had been hit by a cyberattack, which according to sources forced the shutdown of the company’s administrative and operational systems on Monday, including its oil delivery system.
(Reporting by Marianna Parraga; Editing by Julia Symmes-Cobb and Jan Harvey)